177 Comments

  1. I was in Control Line in 1975 and in Radio Controlled since 1985. I have built balsa planes from the beginning.

  2. Started control-line about 1960; Radio Control about 1965. I remember a metal box on the ground with a 10′ aerial and a white ceramic hand-held single button controller. Still have the receiver and escapement; can’t for the life of me find out what happened to the transmitter. OS green box next, then OS Pixie single blipper still with escapements. Still have those. There’s 17 various a/c in storage awaiting a container and subsequent conversion to a model-only workshop. Obsessive: no; just love it: yes !!!

  3. I have been building and designing and flying fixed wing models since 1985

  4. I was in control line, and free flights, in the late 50’s (59), on the beaches in Calif. ( while in the military) and have re-entered in 2011 Dec ember

  5. I have been in the RC Hobby for 38 Years, Did rubber band powered and control line airplanes before that.
    Have played with the Boats, Sailplanes, control line, Sport and pattern planes and Helicopters. This is the one and only hobby that has past the test of time. It just never gets boring ! Always something to tinker with or tweak.

  6. Since one year ago this coming Monday.

  7. ’66-67 Galloping ghost and a Flying Flea (bad combo) Kraft early on–went to Futaba–been flying Patern since ’78-9. Have converted to electric for almost everything now.

  8. Started in 1959 with a kit built Marcy Tone single channel radio and a Midwest Aeronca Sedan.

  9. Started with control line appx. 1956. Left the hobby while in college and the Navy. Got back into RC around 1995 and don’t plan to quite any time soon. I’ve never met a plane I didn’t like.

  10. 65 year now. The best part is building

  11. 20 years ago I wanted to start RC flying but it was too expensive. The introduction of electrics finally allowed me to get into the hobby. Started 6 years ago with small helis and now have a basement full of helis and planes. I’m running out of room, but it doesn’t stop me from buying and building more. Now my kids are getting into RC flying. WooHoo!!! More excuses to get out flying.

  12. I’ve been flying RC since 1970, but I’ve been building models for 60 years – plastic display, rubber powered, and controline before RC. Most of my flying is oriented toward Pattern – AMA and FAI competition in the 70s-90s and Senior Pattern Association competition now.

  13. I started in 1958 with single channel “Galloping Ghost” on Citizens Band. That is 53 years ago.Before that it was free flight and towliners.

  14. Built my first plane, wind up rubber, when I was in 8th grade. That would be in 1942.
    Electricharry

  15. most of my life I have been building model airplanes to fly,
    i did take a break for family stuff but i got back into R/C heavey in 1988 and have been active in various clubs and flying ever since

  16. Started in 1959 with a Marcy Tone single channel radio and a Midwest Aeronca Sedan.

  17. R/C for 22 years (more than half my life)
    Since I’m an Air Force brat, been around aircraft my whole life. Love anything that flies and have done heli, scale, aerobatics, warbirds and now electrics. From scratch building to RTF, done it!
    I am a full time videographer and part of the crew tasked with video archiving the AZ CAF’s full scale planes which include a B17, B25, SNJ, 2 mustangs, 2 super corsairs, C45, C47, and a few others. This means I get to fly in them all on a regular basis!

    Currently flying a Sebart Pitts Python, Pilot RC 26% YAK 54, Airfield B25, Blade 450, micro air Extra and Yak 54, and just got my son an Apprentice 15! Passing the love on to the next generation!

  18. The Aeronca Champ was my first RC model in 1959. My transmiter sat on the ground, used a lead acid battery for power, and had a three-section antenna that was about nine feet tall. Over the next couple of years I tried escapment control, an Ace digi-pulse system using a mighty midget motor, and a Kraft six-reed system. The “galloping ghost” system worked best of all even though the gas-tube receiver needed retuning every other flight and the tube needed to be replaced every four or five hours of use. The World Engines “Blue Max” system was my first reliable aircraft radio control… now it is all rock-solid 2.4 GHz control systems.

  19. Bill B

    I have been in rc since 1958 when I flew a citizenship single channel radio with a button for control.

  20. My first R/C model was a reed type with rubber band escapement. A flyer’s skills were measured by how rapidly he could sequence through left and right rudder and up and down elevator to make two consecutive right hand turns with minmal altitude change and swerve to the left.

    A pilot that could land in the same ZIP code where he took off was considered proficient. That was especially true if the model had the same number of parts on it when it was retrieved as when it took off.

    Things have changed.

  21. Been building Model Airplanes since 1956 — C/Line Free Flight then RC 1974 with an OS Cougar set — Stlll building and hitting the Earth some 55 Years later !
    Go flying with my two Pals since 1980 .———- Love it .
    Still challenging and theraputic — what the brain needs.

  22. 34 years this coming summer. Started in 1978 with a Goldberg Falcon 56 with OS .35 engine and a Kraft Sport series four channel radio.

  23. 55 years, starting with hand launch gliders, free flight, and Ukie in the early 50’s. First successful RC flight 1957 with scratch built transmitter and receiver .

  24. About 18 months flying a Super Cup with pontoons.

  25. Learned to fly a Falcon 56 with GD19 Heathkit in 1974. Rubber and FF gliders before that. First flying kit was a Sterling Beechcraft Bonanza I built in 69 as an 8 year old.

  26. I went to an estate sale in 1983 and saw a Byron F4U Corsair NIB for $100 and I was immediately bitten. I have since built more than 30 airplanes but that Corsair is still in my basement untouched 🙂

  27. 32 years this summer since I received my first radio (which I still have) and a foam cessna with and Enya 09.

  28. I was 8 years old when Cox came out with the .010 Pitts S2 control line, had a Testors PT17 also, started R/C when I went to the Air Force in1981 and fly anything that will take to the air yet today…… Love to teach about engines and flying….

  29. I have been in RC since 1971 , Building & Flying. Just cannot do without.

  30. started with a galloping ghost pre-fab piper low wing look alike in 1963. rudder control only, .049 Cox for power. trimmed it for shallow climb under power, gentle glide dead stick. with dihedral rudder turns were coordinated, sort of. graduated to proportional a few years later

  31. My first kit was a Monogram Speedee-Bilt Ercoupe built in 1954. So I guess that makes 58 years. Built many of the Comet kits as they were the cheapest around.
    Mostly CL and FF in the next decades and didn’t get into RC until the 80’s because I couldn’t afford them.
    Now mostly electrics as they are so much more convenient to fly with no messy fuel cleanup. The big gassers have been put away in favor of the small to medium electrics.

  32. Since 1957. I started by building an Ace R/C tube transmitter and receiver in a Babcock Breezy Jr. plane with an escapement. It was best described as free-flight occasionally interrupted by radio. I still have them all, but 67.5 volt batteries (2 in series for the transmitter) aren’t readily available today.

  33. I started with Ace 4.5 single tone, single channel first all transistor receiver Babcock escapement for rudder only.
    Rubber bands twisted for movement. One blip for right and
    two blips and hold for left. You landed dead stick after your ran out. You measured fuel carefully. One flyer at time and hoped
    the local hospital pager didn’t interfere! All on same frequency.

    What Fun

  34. Started out in late 50’s with balsa rubberband free flights, then in early ’60s with a Cox PT19 plastic control line trainer. When no one was around to help, I would “pull” it around in a circle. That led to balsa control line with a Fox 35, then a one push button radio control boxes. In 1974 got my 1st porportional system and flew sport RC, fun flys and mild pattern. That led to getting pilots license, muti and instrument licenses. Now fly a C414 and Belanca but “enjoy” flying my sport RC planes… gas and electric the most. Flew RC planes with farmers off remote dirt roads and with large clubs with paved and marked runways. Everywhere I have been the folks in the hobby are great. Have been stocking up several sport scale kits to build and fly in upcoming retirement. Electrics allow me to fly in park in local neighborhood and show kids how much fun it is to build (assemble really) and fly. Really have enjoy the hobby and people associated with it.

  35. I started building model when I was about 7, in 1949. I never tried control line (well one time and found out that I had an inner ear problem). I built my first RC unit in 1960 – single channel transmitter, receiver and actuator. So it would be 52 years in RC. Those were the good old days and I would never go back! I love the reliability and perfect control that the modern systems give. When I compare my JR12x to that first home built single channel system I get excited all over again. There are over 50 airplanes hanging in my garage “hangar” – pun intended.

  36. My first R/C model in 1963-4 was a Top Flite Schoolmaster with a Bonner compound escapement. Engine was a Cox .09 with throttle. Radio was from kit built World Engines 27 mz single channel stuff. Reeds were juust starting to appear on the market. Almost 50 years! Of course, I’ve been flying real airplanes longer than that starting in the US Navy in 1958.

  37. I started out poring through a USED Air Trails magazine in about 1935. I already was madly in love with full scales already.

    Had a long wonderful time with balsa rubber powers, then later FF, Control lines-then much later RC.s now have strong interest in Choppers.

    Getting so darned old, but still love them all!

  38. Mt first r/c flight was Easter Sunday of 1964. I was 14. It was a Top Flite Schoolboy with a TD .010 engine. Radio was a single channel World Engines mule transmitter with a superregen rx on 27.095. I used a Bonner escapement and flew rudder only. I was building free flight models prior to this.

  39. I forgot – I switched everything over to electric about four years ago. Sometimes I miss the noise of some of the bigger engines but I don’t miss the mess and gore that comes with them. I have a Quick Fly III that was build right after the magazine article came out and it flies as nicely as it ever did on glow power.

  40. I built rubber powered models in the 40s, control line in 1950, and my first radio control model was in 1980.

  41. Since 1965. First radio was a Controlaire gallophing Ghost in a Aeronca Champ powered by an OS .10 It was always an adventure

  42. Built my first model in 1947 10 cent Comet and never looked back. My first R/C was 1952 don’t remember what it was. Joined the Pioneer R/C club in 1956 and have been a club member in a R/C club where ever I lived. Still in R/C.

  43. I have been in the R/C hobby since 1975 when I bought my first radio, a Futaba 5 chanel with 3 servos that I put in a Fledgling with an Enya 35, I bought that after saving up for over a year of working at McDonald’s, I then joined the Lexington Model Aircraft Club, received instruction and soloed shortly there after. This has been a great hobby for me personally and I would imagine that I will be in this hobby until I can no longer physically participate in it. The hobby sparked my interest in the bigger aircraft and as a result I went to Embry-Riddle for my flight training, have had several jobs in aviation as a pilot and I have been employed by USAirways for nearly 26 years and counting, currently flying the B-767 to Europe, South America, and the Carribean, and I owe it all to my love of R/C that all started back in 1975. The R/C aircraft I currently enjoy flying are R/C jets, and helicopters, but I have to admit this hobby is very much like the flying I do for a living, I never stop learning and I always strive for the perfect flight that doesn’t exist, that’s what keeps me on my toes and and always trying harder to perfect my profession and my hobby.

  44. Since 1955, started with U Control, and those little 049’s then 0.15’s then one channel rubber band escapement planes.
    Then after college, army, and grad school, when I could finally afford real RC my first 6 channel radio made by Royal. The rest is history!

  45. I got started back in the late 50’s with an Ace hard tube kit that you had to wind your own coils and use the shipping box (cardboard) for the transmitter case. Never did work, but sure got me into it. The second attempt was built from an article in one of the model magazines that required sending away for a print circuit board and then trying to locate the remainder of the parts. The transmitter was mounted in a metal file box and had a very long wip antenna on the side of the case. Range was rather limited to about the length of the antenna. Feeling it was not air worthy, I put it in a Sterling Might Mo ship. About ten feet from the shore it stopped working and the ship started doing circles on the lake. After several Citizenship radios, and a few fly aways, I became the owner of an Orbit 10 reed system while serving the the US Air Force on Long Island, NY. I was one of the founding members of the sufolk County Falcons RC club. At 72 years of age I am still trying to get proficient at flying and am still active.

    1. I flew back in the late 60’s at Sufolk AFB also. I had a Sr. Falcon with a 10 Channel Controlaire reeds with bonner servos. We also used another field that we put oil on the dirt to keep the dust down.

  46. I´ve been into modelling since I was 9 years old. I´m now 71!! First rubber powered free flight. Then onto U-control, and I built my firs R/C model in 1968: A Phil Kraft quick Fly from a top flite kit.

  47. I started scratch building F/F models in 1958 and have been mostly scratch building, adding an occassional kit ever since. After a summer of mowing lawns, washing cars and pulling weeds I earned enough to by my first $100 R/C pride and joy. A cub like cabin model with an old Veco .19, 27 mhz ground based transmitter single channel tube radio with Bonner varicomp, OS and Digimite escapements. First rule was never run out of winds on the rubber for the escapements. I was hooked. Orbit, Kraft and Dunham were the buzz words of the day and every modelers desire was to get a Lee-Veco .45 built by Clarence Lee. The pattern flyers motor of choice. I enjoy building and flying all types of models but have a real love and passion for the vintage pre WW-I and WW-I planes. Scratch building 1/4 and 1/3 scale models. R/C technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in my lifetime and has been a wonderful adventure. We have a wealth of knowledge, keep the hobby alive and pay it forward to the new model builders and flyers. May all landings be wheels down. Happy flying.

  48. I’ve flown U-Control since the late ’50’s. Started flying R/C in 1981. I;ve gone all electric, now.

  49. I built my first plane in 1960 at the age of 10, a free flight Veron Vespa Mini-Bipe. In 1964 I got my first radio, a single channel RCS Guidance System with an Elmic Conquest escapement. A few years later I bought a Macgregor single channel set before leaving the hobby for a while to discover girls, cars etc.
    I returned in 1978 and bought a Futaba M series 6 channel 27mhz set and have since progressed through various (mostly Futaba) radios to Multiplex Royal Evo and Cockpit on 2.4

  50. Started flying rubber powered stick models in 1952, and progressed to control line, and r/c over the years. Now radio control all the way.

  51. Started control line in about 1972. My first radio was a single channel pulse that we bought from America’s Hobby Center in NY via mail order. I’d never had a radio and never ordered anything larger than a magazine before that so I was excited. Many years later it finally died and we saved up to get a 2 channel Futaba. We were in high cotton with two whole channels. All in all I have been flying something for nearly 40 years.

  52. I started with a boat in 1980, then cars, Now Planes for the last 4 years

  53. I am 82 years old. I strarted building models when I was 10 years old. Used to purchase Cleveland models kits in those days. I gradually progressed to free flight models -non scale. I ten went to Controlline and eventually RC with early Citizenship and ACE components. I lost my first RC model in a flyaway but continued to build and fly. I got into helicopters in te mid 70’s and ran a Hobby Shop at that time called Saratoga Hobbies. I met many people over the years and still have many of them.
    Madelling is a great hobby and I’m glad I spent many enjoyable hours at it.

  54. I have been building and flying R/C airplanes since 1989. My first radio was a Heathkit Kit.

  55. I flew my first C/L model in 1949 with my Dad’s help. I remember that we had a low pitch prop on the Cox .049 and it barely flew. I flew my first R/C in 1956 with was an escapement interrupted free fly. Over the years, I’ve flown all types of R/C transmitters and planes. Still fly when I can.

  56. Started U-control about 1951, Got my 1st RC plane in 1959, a single channel Tri-Pacer. Then an Esquire that actually flew (still single channel). Moved up to a 10-channel reed system in 1963. Onward and upward. sStill fly with a very active club. I’m flying all electric since 2002.

  57. I started RC Building and flying in 1985….27 years.

  58. 2nd year, a late starter but enjoying the hobby.

  59. About 3.5 years. The emergence of practical electric planes and helis got my interest. Nitro was of zero interest and frankly there is almost no place around here that allows it anyways…

  60. I ave been in the hobby since 1971. I have been enjoying electric only flying since 2000. I enjoy building from plans and kits more than ever.

  61. In model airplanes since about 1960. I’ve been flying RC for about 43 years.

  62. My 9 year old grandson and I just started in R/C about a year ago. We’ve been learning to fly at our local flying club, Findlay Flying Circuits. We’ve spent the winter flying micro-helis in the house.

  63. First R/C Model was from 1957 MAN plan for Bill Winter’s Gramps. It was a scaled up deBolt Rebel. I really should build another one. Maybe electrified and outa foam.

  64. Started C/L in 1958. Still have the .049 Cox.
    RC since 1990. Fly primarily Bill Evans Simitars.

  65. New to the hobby and completely bitten. I now have 5 planes in my hangar and have flown 2 of them. Can’t wait to get the others in the air.

  66. Started in 1957 building the radio receivers du jour from Grid Leaks magazine. Flew with escapements rudder only with occasional throttle control – fast and half fast or not at all. Ground based tube transmitter on the one 27 MHz we were allowed. Went 100% electric about 10 years ago. I’m on my 83rd orbit around the sun and flying 3 or 4 days a week.

  67. I first started modeling building and flying Rubber powered and Towline gliders in 1943. I bought my first Glow engine in 1947, a Hurricane 0.24, followed by an Atwood Super Champ (0.624) in 1948. I participated at the Plymouth Internationals in Detroit in 1951 with 2 – Free Flight gas models, and a Scale model Sopwith Camel.I got my first radio, a single channel tube radio with a ground transmitter in 1956, followed by an F&M single channel and a 8 channel reed set in 1960. I moved into Electric powered models with the first Astro Flight motor in the late 1970’s. I have enjoyed this hobby for 69 years now and hope to enjoy it for many more.

  68. Been an airplane nut since childhood and had my first c/l then. Was in and out of the hobby til 1980 when I went r/c and havent stopped since. still flying the 1/4 scale cub I built in 82, rebuilt it last year. Airframe has at least 5000+ flights on it, Guess you could say I fly on a budget. building a PT19 at present

  69. I first started building Mogram and Speedy Built models in the 50’s along with flying U-Control. I Switched over to R/C in 1963 with my first R/C being a Jr. Falcon with escapements. Then I progressed to a 10 channel Controlaire reed system in a Sr Falcon. Then I started flying Kraft proportional and designed my own planes. I started my own model company in California selling my first design which was the Integra. We then offered the BD6 and the Streaker. The latest pattern design was the Revenger (which is 38 years old) which I’m still flying at age 73. Many of you may remember me when I wrote ror R/C Modeler Magazine in the 60’s and 70’s.. I’m still active and enjoying retirement.

  70. I had already earned my private pilots license and logged a few hundred hours of full scale flight time before I bought my first Radio Control system and model airplane in 1973.
    Today I still enjoy flying both full scale and model airplanes.
    So that’s 43 years flying full scale and 39 years flying R/C model airplanes.

  71. I have been in th RC hobby from the time the first pulse radios were available from ACE Radio, that’s about 60 years. At first we just had rudder, then the Bonner escapement came along and gave us up elevator but you had to wind the rubber band and you could not get it with both left and right rudder so you had to make a choice.
    What amazing things are available today, especially on some of the foam kits coming out of China.

  72. Quit smoking in 1989 and bought my first model in 1990 with the cigarette savings, a cheap small foam trainer with a .15 Enya glow engine. From there have never looked back and have enjoyed every minute of this wonderful hobby. I’m now into giant scale warbirds and aerobatic planes and looking forward to many more years of enjoyment, especially now that I’m retired!

  73. I started in this hobby by building rubber powered models and towline gliders in 1943. I built a number of Indoor models, both tissue covered and microfilm types in the late 1940″s I got my first engine, a Glow Hurricane 0.24 in 1947. I flew at the Plymouth Internationals in Detroit in 1951 with 2 – free flight glow models and a Sopwith Camel U.C. model. I got my first radio in 1956, a single channel with a ground transmitter, followed by a 10 channel F&M reed set in 1960. I built my first Electric powered model from plans in R C Modeler, with one of Astro Flight’s first electric motors in the late 1970’s. I flew a lot of gliders in the 1970’s – 1980’s, both slope and bungee launch. I got into RC Car racing in the 1980’s and then into RC boats, both electric powered and sail boats. Since 1994, I have concentrated solely in Electric powered models and E -powered gliders with the ALES gliders being my current main interest. I have enjoyed this hobby for 69 years and hope to enjoy it for many more.

  74. I started in 1954 with a Babcock 3 ch. The Rx had 6 tubes and 3 sealed relays and weighed about a pound. I still have it. My present project is rebuilding my 11 ft Ford trimotor with corrugated skin and 3 Saito 3cyl 170 engines.

  75. Started out with C/L in 1972 then R/C in 1977. Got into helicopters in 1990. Have just recently gotten into electrics and WOW they have really come a long way. I remember when electrics were nothing more than powered gliders.

  76. If been into R.C. for about 25 years. I started with cars and truck then moved to planes and helicopters. I enjoy planes the most now a days.

  77. First RC was Heathkit in 1972 with several high wings. Started two clubs . Early interest started about 1950 wth U control and balsa kits with .049 and up.

  78. Jai toujour aimer L”aviation depuie 1949 .Après mon cour de pilote pour réduir les dépense jai continué avec des model et jen nait détruis aux moin 40 avions je me suis pas découragé encore aujourdui je volle presque tout les jour dans un park a coté de ma maisson Je peut dire que ses un spore qui tien alètte et la centeur de glo fuel on samusse bien a Fredericton F.M.A.C. N.B. Canada

  79. Built plastic display models starting at age 10 in 1957 and built my first balsa plane in 1959 w/lotsa carving and sanding. 1960 saw me flying in circles with sticks, tissue, dope & silk nitro powered C/L combat and stunt models which I did on and off till the late 60s. When coming of age on the East coast I dabbled with RC rudder only, rubber powered escapements,etc for a couple years until I finally got a proportional MRC radio in 1972. For several years I flew 35-60 class 2 stroke nitro RC sport and fun-fly planes which I built from kits. Then I moved to California and got away from all that for over 30 years till 2008 when I got back into it with a vengance. I fly mostly medium sized (45″-65″) electric sport, fun-fly, 3D and aerobatic airplanes now on 2.4 radios and try to get out at least once a week to a club field 5 minutes from my home. At this point it remains one of the greatest sources of joy in my life.

  80. I started solid models in 1937, rubber power through to 1944, then control line, and started radio control in 1960 with a galloping ghost set, then reeds, and then to more modern radio in 1965. Ray Baker MAAC 9493L

  81. I have been building model aircraft for sixty plus years begining with solid and stick models, graduationg to control line and then freeflight. It was around 1966 that I built a R/C single channel escapement model called Scoolgirl designed by Ken Willard. So I suppose I have been in R/C 45 or 46 years. I am just starting to try small electric powered aircraft.

  82. I Started RC in around 1968. In fact, I build my first radio from a Heathkit. It was the first RC kit that Heathkit sold.

  83. Started building chuck gliders during WW2 that was 70 years ago. Progressed to rubber and diesel free flighters.
    Lost too many models and started control line flying. Stunt and speed were my thing, won at national events in the 50’s.
    started radio control with the rubber escapements in the 60’s.
    Reeds were next, they were not the easiest for me to fly, big relief when I could buy a digital propo set. Imported form the USA to Australia.
    Have about 14 models, from scale, pattern, 3D, electric gliders to a few control liners. Been a great trip!!

  84. First introduced to R/C in 1968 when I was 12. Joined the Kingston AeroModellers in 1976. Flew my first R/C plane in 1977 (an Andrews H-Ray) prior to going active duty in the USAF. Reentered the hobby in 1985 and have been into it ever since.

  85. Began flying control line models in 1954 and remember using jim walker u-rely control handle in late 50’s. Graduated into R/C
    in the 70’s and have been in this wonderful hobby ever since.

  86. I started building models in 1939, and built my first RC model in 1956 ( Debolt Livewire Trainer). I still have it, and try to fly it at least once a year. It still has the original Green head torpedo motor, but now has modern rudder and elevator control.

  87. I was into rubber and 1/2A gas free flight for a while in mid-50s. By 1958-9, I was designingR/C planes and even carried a brownie camera in one that shot straight down through the fuselage bottom. Flew single-channel of course, but also had a plane with a 5-reed receiver. Homemade servos. You had to carry big batteries then, usually a 67 1/2-volt “B” supply to begin with…

  88. Started U-control in 1975, Built a Big Stick 60 in 1982 with a Royal AM radio. Built another Big Stick 60 in 1983 which I still fly occasionally. I wonder how many landings are on that plane?

  89. My first radio was a Babcock and the receivor had tubes.
    But it only worked up till 15 feet. Then I had the pulse radio with a rubber banded escapement.

  90. I’ve been building and flying model airplanes since I was 3 years old and that was 61 years ago. In 1977 I went to the Toledo Show for the first time (at the Sports Arena) and spent all three days there, staying in a motor home in the parking lot. On Sunday I spent $1.00 (all I had left) on a raffle ticket and won a 5 channel KGL radio set. That’s all I needed to get me into RC. I joined the Wolverines then and now (since 2003) I’ve been with the Radio Control Club of Detroit and write the newsletter (www.rccd.org).
    So…I got into RC with full proportional but I still have a full MInnX outfit (unused) that my Dad & I bought back in the early 60’s when I was still in High School. Way too much fun all these years with the hobby.
    Lou Tisch

  91. I started with 1/2A control line planes in 1952. In the early 1970s I bought my first RC radio. I still build from plans, mostly MAN plans from the 1950s and 1960s.

  92. I STARTED IN 1942 CARVING WOODEN MODELS,I WAS 7 YEARS OLD.BY THE TIME IS 13 ,I COMPETED AND WON THE RHODE ISLANDJR CHAMPIONAND ALL NEW ENGLAND CHAMPIONSHIP,2 YEARS IN ROW..
    I JOINED THE AIR FORCE IN 1955 ANAD WHILE STATIONED IN JAPAN,I WAS TWICE SELECTED 2 TIMES TO COME BACK TO THE STATES TO COMPETE IN THE AIR FORCE NATIONALS AND THEN ON THE AMA NATIONAL
    IN 1998 I WAS SELECTED TO COMPETE IN TOP GUN AND WAS INVITED TILL 2002 WHEN I CAME DOW WITH BONE MARROW CANCER..,I W

  93. I have been flying control line sense the first cox engines on plastic control line planes, and into r/c when we had to build our own controls. Am i really that old.

  94. I built and flew contol line when 1 was 12-13.After a 51 year hiatus i am now fully engulfed in R/c until the end.
    Hopefully in the afterlife as well!!!

  95. Wow! so many comments! Please keep writing in and adding to this story! Great History!

    I first flew solo RC in in 1968 at age 11 with my dad’s Rudderbug. It was powered by a U-Control Fox .19 (venture-equipped) and controlled with a PCS digital proportional (Brown Box) system.

  96. I have been flying model aircraft since the day when I used to build tube radio’s. I’m 82 now and still flying RC planes, only much faster. Your responses indicate how popular this sport is.

  97. I built my first control line plane in 1956 and my first R/C (School Boy) in 1962.

  98. I’ve been in RC 50 years – since 1962, and in control line and free flight since 1949. Have flown everything. Presently prefer bigger 100 cc and smaller electrics. So many airplanes and so little time! Ah…retirement!

  99. Built control line in late 50’s early 60’s. My wife talked me back into r/c 2 months ago. Things sure have changed. I’m flying foamy’s with electric motors, and a futaba 6ex radio. Hope to get back to balsa building and a os motor soon.

  100. Built solid wood and plastic in late 40s . Sticks to53 then control-line to 80 then RC to Date. Almost al forms of RC heli,plane, some car and boat.

  101. I started in R/C in 1953. I was riding around with my dad one day and we saw some guys out in a field flying model airplanes. The only thing was they wern’t flying C/L. They were flying R/C. This was in 1952. I was 15 at that time. It was Tony Grish. The one who made the Grish Tornado props. Mainly the Plasticotes. That was it. I had to have an R/C model. I started out with a DeBolt Live Wire Trainer guided by a citizenship tube radio, S/N escapment, and a Mac II ground base transmitter. The model was powered by an OK Cub .099, later with a OK Cub 15. Flew it for 4 years then went into the Army for 3 years and flew it for another year after I got out of the Army. Good times. No fly aways.

  102. Control line in the early 60’s; R/C since 1975

  103. Wow, how time flies. Built my first model, a solid Spad xiii, at age 13 in 1933.
    Since then I have flown free flight and control line with a Mighty Atom in FFand a Brown Jr in CL.
    I gave modeling a rest during WW II but went back to CLafter my discharge for a while then rested (money problems) until the fifties when I bought a Kraft 4 chanel radio and have not stopped since..
    I am using 27mhz, FM and 2.4ghz for electric and nitro models.
    I’m 91 now and still going strong (I hope).

  104. I did control in the 60’s put my time in Vietnam and started RC in the early 80’s

  105. Started U/C in 1961, R/C in 1968. Balsa most of the time, now into foam and electric. Everything from Combat U/C to R/C gliders and Scale. Tried the heli’s, just can’t “get my head around them”! Got balsa in my veins.

  106. Started c/l 1956 and radio control in about 1958. The receiver had a 1AG4 vacuum tube and built by Babcock. 1st plane was a Brigadier with a Babcock rubber band powered compound escapement. I upgraded to reeds in the late fifties. A good day was to make it home with your airplane intact (broken props didn’t count).

  107. Ted Andrews

    First RC was a 1/2 A modified PAA payload powered by a McCoy .049 Diesel at Holloman AFB in New Mexico in 1952. Maybe it was 1953. Radio was a Berkeley Aerotrol (ugh!)

  108. “Jim Walker’s” planes in the early forties. Rubber in the late forties. Control line in the fifties, Child rearing in the sixties, Career building in the seventies. Rubber and glo free flight in the eighties, RC slope soaring in the nineties. RC sport; glo and electric, powered gliders and foamies to 2010. Lately indoor rubber duration and electric are my faves….

  109. I am an Old Newbie. I had no prior experience but an interest in rc. I got tired of watching so I invested in a simulator,RealFlight G 5.5 and after untold hours of practice I soloed Jan. 2012 and have 14 hours to date in my logbook. RC has truly enhanced my life for the better.

  110. 2 years and Im just getting comfortable enough to fly without being overly nervous to crash. I can even fly upside down as long as I’m going straight.

  111. In it for 23 yrs. Fixxed wing and rotor

  112. First began building rubber band and Speedee-built models in the late 40’s. Then came control lines with OK Cub .049s and Scientific models in the early 50’s, and larger control lines with McCoy .29s and 35s on Goldberg and Sterling models. Finally built my first RC, a Lightning Bug with a Cox .020, Otarian super-regen receiver and home built transmitter c1962. Continued with galloping ghost on Midwest and Topflight 1/2A models, finally going “Full House” with a Citizenship analog proportional in a Tri-Squire in 1967, then on to a kit built World Engines Blue Max 4 channel digital in a Sky-squire in 1972. Still building and flying All-season as I near 74 years of age.

  113. Almost got in about 35 years ago but didn’t like the FM frequency restrictions or the cost. Two years ago I discovered that the costs had gone down drastically and that the 2.4G radios had eliminated the possibility of FM channel interference and were light years ahead of the old radios in capabilities. So, two years with fixed wing and just got into helis in the last few months. Perfect retirement activity!

  114. Started with control line, Walker Fire Baby Junior/OK Cub 049, bought my first Radio when Kraft brought out the 4 channel Sport Series 1970+/-. Got too involved for several years before I was able to get the obsession under control. The club I belong to now is total electric. Nice not to have to clean all that goop off before I go home. 68 and still can crash one pretty good now and then>

  115. Flew CL since the early 60’s. RC shortly thereafter with tube TX & sequential rudder only. Then galloping ghost. Now flying MicroPro 8000’s & Microstar 2000’s

  116. I built my first model airplane for a 7th grade science class assignment. It was a paper covered glider with balsa frame and a wing span of about three feet. I launched it out of the class room third store window. It glided for several hundred feet. I got an A for the project! That was in the year of 1952 or sixty years ago. I have built several glow plug models since then. Each plane has it’s own story and cherished memories. My most recent plane is a Carl Goldberg Tiger 60 with a 0.61 glow engine.
    Thanks.
    Bob

  117. First model was a Strombecker Tacoma Frigate, a 4th birthday present in 1948. Dad was going to help me buiold it the next day, but after him and mom went to sleep, I snuck out, brought the model. I even had been exposed to enough reading by then to figure out which little paper packet was glue, and that the other was something called “Wood Filler”. Got ‘er done.
    Summer of 1949, I took a box of pennies, nickles and a few dimes and quarters, and after a year of gliders and rubber flying things, bought my first CL plane, an Enterprise Air Racer, and an O. K. Cub .099. Plane was beyond my limited skills, but I still have that engine, and still use it once in a while.
    Finally flew with that engine on an Enterprise profile P-51.
    Got involved with RC after graduating from high school in 1962. Even built a couple tube type receivers from schematics, that never really worked. Finally started flying reliably after buying a Controlaire 5 channel in 1968. Added electric RC around 1988, may add elctric CL and FF soon, but don’t intend to give up glow anytime soon.

  118. Showed my reply to “She who must be obeyed” (???) I said 14 models… Actually well over 20….. And now that post by Rick Michelena on his upside down stick…. Just ordered another stick… Can’t have too many can we!!

  119. Type 30 triode vacuum tubes/dry carbon-zinc batteries in the late thirties with Herkimer “O.K.” 0.49 ci gas engine in a modified Quaker Free flight. I even had gas ration cupons for model aircraft during WWii ! Flew free flight, control line as well as rubber power durring the war. After war graduated to dual RK 61 tubes with relay and rubberwound escapements. Later Demico motor escapements. Than Ace and Kraft kits. On to Citizenship, Controlair,reeds and then Jack Lemons’ Astromite 6 first 6 channel proportional control. 1959 Dubro 40 powered engine pointing up on 505 “helicopter” then Kalt fixed pitch cobra with 0.46 ci Eyna engine. 1970 Keats 0.19 ci powered do it yourself “Polecat” and first collective pitch Kalt Barron 0.20. Then onto modern 1974 Cickets and 1975/76 Cobras and Competirors.During this same time flew many kit built, own design and plastic ARFs. After that joined the crowd with foam and prebuilts with modern 2.4 gig gear and electric power.
    P.S. I have lots of antique engines and nitro powered planes and helis to sell. Docs woun’t let me near fuels or paints any more because of Benzine.

  120. I started flying RC sailplanes around 2000. I got into RC electric planes in 2006 and have never turned back. Love EDF, composites, foamies mostly scale, but my heart belongs to the giant warbirds.

  121. If you count early ARFs – think Warneford Terror and various Frog models, all rubber powered – then I claim about 77 years. Hard to remember those early days. I was about 7 when I started. Thank you Grandmother. I dabbled in all sorts, free flight – rubber and diesel, gliders, control line and R/C. The latter first with bang-bang escapements, then “Galloping Ghost” and finally proportional. (I never could manage the early multi channel radios with 6 or eight switches to be flipped to control the model).. In the early days of R/C we had to do it ourselves – no instructors, we were amongst the first- Ca 1947. I always liked scale and proportional R/C made this feasible.

  122. I’ve been building and flying R/C models since 1944. My Dad and I flew a Simmons Gas Champ that I built with a home made radio built by my Dad. The Gas Champ was converted from an existing free flight model. The radio was built by my Dad and that included the escapment. There were no commercial radios at that time that we knew of.

  123. 15 years. I taught myself to fly with a Gentle Lady with a Cox engine. Since then i have done slope soaring, glow, electric and gas; I’ve really enjoyed flying 3D and giant scale in the last 5 years.

    I have also been flying full scale planes since 1979. Now 33 years with over 9000 hours. The last “new” full scale plane for me was the Quest Kodiak 100. I am thinking of building a 1/5 scale RC Kodiak someday.

  124. Built my first balsa model in 1968 control line, started in RC in1983

  125. I started flying in 1988 and designed and built my first scratch built plane in 1990, which is still flying today.

  126. HI I started in around 1970 . I have been in it all car , boats ,
    helis , planes, I think I am hook on it and I will never stop flying .I am just getting stated in 3D giant scale and right now Iam building a Starwood > 1/5.6th Scale AH-64D Apache Longbow
    I hope to have it ready this summer : )

  127. I started in the mid fifty’s with a kit sailplane. Became interested in powered planes, but was limited by availability as well as funds. Built a Taylor Cub (free-flight), which I eventually converted to U-control. My only RC experience was with a home-built receiver for a boat (which also saw some conversion) and a store-built transmitter with a single-button controller. My interest in planes and helis started again about three years ago.

  128. Built stick & tissue since 1950. Built C/L since 1952. Went into USAF in 1958, ran into R/C during stint in Japan, and flew with the local Japanese club. Was good friends with the local postmaster, and a school teacher. Everything was single channel, escapement. I had one bird with 3 total excapements. You learn to count real steady for that. That bird was a Hal DeBolt Live Wire Cruiser. Very gentle bird. Kind of dropped out for 40 years, and now I am trying to learn new stuff like: ARF, RTF, and stuff I would mostly never get into. I still insist on building my own. Just gimme a set of Nick Ziroli plans, and I’ll be as happy as if I could fly with my own wings. (Beware of flying too high, the wax will melt!)

  129. I started building model airplanes when I was in the sixth grade. That was 1970. I still build and fly model airplanes daily. When I go to work I fly a B-747-400 all over the globe. Model airplanes did that for me! Thank You Joe Hass Senior!

  130. istarted in 1953 witha Citizenship 465mhz singlechannel radio and a Berkley Bootstraps airplane with a Cub 14 engine.

  131. I was in Control Line in 1968 and in Radio Controlled since 1985.

  132. I have been designing, building and flying RC planes since 1963. First plane had a rubber-band powered escapement. Servos had not been invented yet. The transmitters had tubes (transisters not invented yet) and required huge dry cell batteries. Also, the transmitters had no sticks. My first one had an on-off switch and a single button . One push and hold for left rudder, and a push-release then push and hold for right rudder.

  133. Started in Colombia around 1962, flying CL using my dad’s Fox .35 and O & R .23 engines (my brother still has them). At that time, we could only get fantastic balsa. No way to get engines, kits, wheels, etc. We had to make our own fuel (methanol, castor oil and nitrobenzine). We either design our planes, or scale the plans up from magazines. I build my first radio control plane (Tailwind), drawing the plans by upscaling from a magazine drawing. Never flew it: I couldn’t get the 67.5v batteries. Came to the US for graduate school, and, after graduation, built my first RC (Topflite Schoolmaster), with a.049 Cox engine and a Cox Sanwa radio. Second plane was a Goldberg Skylane 62, finished in 1982, and still flying. I enjoy building scale or sport scale planes, gas, or electric, building from scratch to ARF. I love the hobby, and so does my 2.5year-old grandson.

  134. 4 yrs. now & how come my planes keep getting bigger & faster?
    When most of us start , face it, were just satisfied getting to control even the 25s & 40s. Now it’s huge gassers & nitro burners HAhHAha! But I still sometimes just love to enjoy one of those beautiful days when you just have to go crusin a floater & just kick back, feel the sky above me & dream.

  135. I’ve been a modeler since I built a L’il Jumping Bean – contol line model by Carl Goldberg – in 1959. I flew control line balsa and plastic until about 1970 when I purchased an MRC Blue Max RC 4 channel system while serving in the USAF in Germany. Reeds and escapement were too simple and I could read the handwriting on the wall since I was an electronics tech. My first RC plane was a Goldberg Falcon 56 which I still have – only the original wing and tail still survive. The engine was a McCoy 35. I still fly gas 1/2A and gliders and claim the highest flight over Kamloops BC, Canada. The flight was in 1978 and the airplane was a Hobby People Lil Gasser which I flew to almost OOS while sloping off the mountains and after the tank ran out of gas. My buddy never got his Pilot aircraft off the ground – it was a sailplane. I’m now in Arizona and pretty much fly where I wish – lots of open spaces. I prefer small and light, aerobatic and reliable, simple and a box of sticks before I get it. I have no problems flying my own designs – a soon to be lost art, I think.

  136. I started control line flying in 1967-1970 and later I started r/c trucks in 1995,r/c boats in 1999 and then r/c planes in 2003 and now I do all three when there is time.

  137. Started with rubber power, 1956, control line 1962, radio 1965. Still flying, helicopters and planes, scale only.

  138. I started building models in 1969 – control line and some free flight, along with plastic scale models. I started RC in about 1970 – my dad had a 75% complete Andrews Models H-Ray. Dad and I finished the H-Ray and I saved $ from my paper delivery route and we purchased our first radio – a World Engines 5 channel sport…single stick. We joined the local aero modeing club about summer of 1970 and began to learn to fly. Over the years we built many models and expanded our flying collection – all glow fuel powered in those days. Off to college I went in the late 1970’s, but would still fly when I was back home every summer. After graduation I joined the local RC club in the new city where i moved and continued to fly RC until 1989. It was then that I put aside the RC models for the “real deal” – flying full-scale I earned my private pilot rating and logged many hours flying single-engine land – type rated in 8 types, including Piper Super Cub, Cherokee, and Cessna 172XP. Family, kids, and other “life happenings” caused me to set aside full-scale flying in the late 1990’s, and I began flying RC again – electric powered. My folks retired and moved to near where I live and Dad and I began flying again a number of years ago. We continue to expand our electric powered airforce and fly most weekends (weather permitting) at a nearby middle school. I’ve designed and built several airplanes, and scratch-built severl others off plans. Now I fly only electric powered, but still have all my old glow fuel engines, many kits in the box – older from my high school flying days and newer, and even till have my first RC radio – not used in many years. The RC airplane hobby can be a lifelong, rewarding hobby. Enjoy!

  139. 53 years and still going strong.

  140. 53 years (1959-) and counting…

    I was born in 1947 and I have been interested in airplanes ever since I was three years old, which began at a preacher’s house in Oregon, where my father was preaching a revival. The pastor took me up to his attic to see his airplane. In the middle of the large attic room on the bare wooden floor, in front of a large window with light streaming in, I saw my first real model airplane. I don’t know what it was called (It looked to me, as I look back now, like a Piper Cub). It was very large with a high wing and windows. It was red and white and the plane was sitting, facing from right to left. The wing was high enough for me to crawl under the wing of the large free flight plane where I peered into the window. It was awesome and detailed and my love affair with airplanes was born. Later, in 1952 I remember hearing the sonic booms as Chuck Yeager flew over our house in Fort Worth, Texas. That and all of the B-36 Bombers that flew over, rattling our windows and cupboards, made quite an impression on me. I loved watching the many planes that flew over our house from Carswell, AFB.

    In 1958, just three blocks from Carswell Airforce Base, I played with rubber band airplanes with red plastic propellers and red wheels.

    In 1959, I began with hand launch balsa stick models, such as the Jetex Model advertised in the back of comic books. It cost me a whopping $1.50 and that was a lot in 1959. It had a Jetex solid fuel engine lit with a fuse and the engine was attached to the bottom of the stick fuselage. On my very first launch, it soared higher and higher and I never saw it again. I then built a rubber band, stick & tissue and dope model airplane called the Mono coupe. I did not have much success with it, but, then I went on to control line planes (also referred to as U-Control.)

    My first control line was a plastic Cox p40 with a .049 engine in 1959. I did not really ever get it to fly. There was no one to help me and I tried swinging it around and letting the line out, but it only hit the ground.

    In, 1968 while I was stationed in Oahu, Hawaii on Ford Island, my wife and I flew control line models such as the Flite streak and Geiske Nobler. My wife, Donna, actually learned to fly control line before I did. That was frustrating, but I was proud of her.

    Actual R/C involvement began in 1968, where I got my first experience at flying an R/C airplane, while stationed in the Navy in Hawaii on Ford Island.

    One day, as I arrived at the airfield on Ford Island, with a feeling of awe, I watched airplanes flying all around the sky without any wires or strings attached to them. I was use to going around in circles with my Nobler and often wished it could break free and fly over the trees. But these planes were free to go wherever they wished at the command of the ground pilot. There was a young man around my age of 21, flying a high wing airplane and I commented how awesome and he said, without hesitation, would you like to try it? I stumbled all over myself and responded sure. This plane had the famous or infamous “Galloping Ghost radio system” which we all affectionately called “Flutter Rudders.” This plane had a single rudder control which constantly flipped back and forth with more left or right with the movement of the stick. the horizontal stabilizer was mounted with a small amount of “up” built in. Surprisingly, it was very docile and handled very well. As I gave the transmitter back to him, I watched him line up with the runway and make a perfect landing, I was hooked, However, I could not afford the cost of getting into the hobby until 1974 when I purchased my first R/C airplane, while I was stationed at Keesler AFB, Biloxi, MS. My first airplane was a Midwest High Wing aircraft called the Tri-Squire, sporting a Super Tiger .23 engine and controlled with a Five Chnnel, Kraft Super Sport Radio on 72.160 MHz. The radio was grey, unlike the typical gold Kraft radios, and it was cheaper.

    I was hooked for good. I soloed on my third day out. Many R/C airplanes, helicopters, cars and boats later, I am still continuing on and my three sons are all proficient R/C Airplane flyers.

    Checkout my website at http://Burnsmodelaircraft.com or http://www.Zwings.com

    Checkout my sons site at: http://www.exposureroom.com/christopherburns, which features (FPV) First Person Video where he flies in Montana with a Wing and the GoPro camera on board and the videos are great. My boys don’t do drugs, but they really do get (fly) high.

    Remember: “Keep your thumbs on the sticks and your head out of the clouds”

  141. Started with Free Flights in 1945. In 1972 I switched to RC with the aid of Bob Gibbs, an engineer for Diamond National.. I buildt a BlueMax system from a kit. Now i fly with JR in all sort of planes from 40 size to 1/3 scale 3D’s.

  142. I flew control line sport, scale, and combat (scale competitively) from1958 to 1962. Started flying R/C in 1981 and flew until about 1993 and then started flying R/C again in 2005 and love it in my retirement. I currently have the luxury of flying R/C electrics out of my back yard.

  143. From Model rockets, and Control line planes to R/C airplanes. I remember my first radios being a Heathkit radio and an EK Logical radio, 1972 more or less.

  144. Maybe his year I will learn to fly, well not maybe But I will learn to fly this year. I have been interested in building models sense about 1969. Others have told me that the planes that I built and some that I have designed have been the best flyers that they have flown. So this year I will learn to fly.

  145. I started flying in 1961 with a FreeFlight Taylor Cub with an 049 and progressed into RC with the escapement radios. From there into porportional RC and am still in the hobby today. I flew for over 15 years in Bishop, CA with the Eastern Sierra Flyers, The flyers in Apple Valley (Dry Lakes) for 2 years, The flyers in Ontario, CA (Where the Ontario Mills Mall is now) for 4 years, The flying club at the Port of LA for 2 years, and now with various flyers around Southern California. I still enjoy the hobby as much as I did when I was 11.

  146. I started in control line planes way dack in about 1968 then got my start in to R/C in about 1977. My first radio was a Cox 2 chanel and the Cox .049 engines. Have loved it from the start and now have been flying 1/4 scale with a US engines 35 cc gass engine. Have helped others get started too.

  147. I have been into model airplanes since 1945 first rubber then control line, and got into single channel with a walt good roal rudder bug and a sea cat from berkley models.

  148. I migrated from free-flights and u-control at the age of 13 to R/C when I bought a “used” World Engines “Blue Max system on 27Mhz in 1974. The man who I bought my radio from was a customer of mine on my then paper route. I paid $110 for my radio (that was alot of money then). A new radio then “Kraft”, “MRC”, “World Engines”, or a “Pro-Line” was going for $300+ dollars. Boy, have things changed and prices dropped! I might add, that those radios that I mentioned, were all made in the USA!

  149. I started about 15 years ago. My first attempt was a SIG CLIPPED WING CUB, but I learned on an Egle 2. After about 10 years I tried the CLipped wing CUB again. I thoroughly enjoy building from kits or from scratch. I still only use ARFs when I”m desparate, but I do have one that I really enJoy flying, yet there”s no emotional attachment to ARFs.

  150. Been in the hobby since 1959. Sold greeting cards and seeds to pay for my first plane, a P-40 Warhawk, control line of course. I graduated to RC a number of years later and have been in the hobby since. My fleet has grown since those early days, and I hope it will continue. I enjoy building as much as flying. Not into heli’s, just airplanes. To answer the question, 53 years and counting. I am retired so I now devote more time to the kids, grandchildren, and RC.

  151. I started Control line with the diesel engines slowly moved to single channel (Rudder only) in 1976
    Had a great Maths teacher in school who went out of his way to teach us about airplanes.
    Now have a good fleet of home built to 50cc’s My son has been flying since he was four years old we simply love this.

    “NO GREATER HOBBY!!”

  152. I started in 1968 with a used Orbit 12 ch. reed set in a Beachcomber. I put the Beachcomber away and built a Sterling high wing trainer. I learned to fly over time and sold the Beachcomber back to the fellow I bought it from. I bought one of the early proportional radios. I can’t remember the brand but it was green anodized aluminum in Mode 1 configuration, I still fly Mode 1. Only a few in our area that do.
    A friend built a Royal set for me and I loved it. I wish I still had those radios. These days I fly JR and Spektrum DX-7 and DX-8 and an older Futaba on Mode 1 and a Spektrum DX-5i on Mode 2 for Helicopters.
    I am handicaped now but still fly as much as I can. I Have a Dog Fighter, various Micro balsa machines and just finished my “Mr Muligan”. I spend most of my time in my wheelchair. When I go to the flying field I get tons of help from my fellow club members. It’s just about the most fun I have after my family.

  153. Bob Fisher
    Started in aeromodelling when I was fourteen. Control line of course.First engine was a Frog 150. Kept it going until I was Seventeen or Eighteen when I discovered that girls were really more interesting and finally got married and after the arrival of my first (of four) children found how much RC had changed since my first encounter with RC at technical school.First radio was a Space Commander 4 channel. I have been flying RC ever since.I am 74 and see no way of stopping now.

  154. Started as a teenager doing everything available here in Brazil for the hobby, unless RC (it was very expensive) stopped 1976 after the National Championship, participating for the São Paulo State UControl Combat team. I had to dedicate my time and, energy to the sudies, later family and work.
    Returned full gas with several RC models about 7 years ago at UVA (www.aerouva.com.br).

  155. I have been building and flying RC aircraft for better that 25 years, back when the AM radio was the think. My first flying aircraft was made of cardboard covered with balsa and the wing spars were from alum. arrow shafts. Made smaller wings for aerobatics and large ones for gliding . The power plant was a brushed electric motor. We came up with this combination because the commercially available kits were to heavy and under powered for our higher altitudes. I have four cycle and electrics in my collection.

  156. Had a short stint about 35 years ago. Couldn’t really afford it then as a student with the exchange rate and all. Really got back into it again about 10 years ago.

  157. I started in the hobby in 1989…I tried both electric and nitro cars. Neither one made me happy. So I quit the hobby. I rejoined the hobby in 2008. Much happier now. I have a little bit of everything. Cars, boats, planes, helis & motorcycles. Right now I have a balsa boat, a car and heli that I am building from scratch…I am having alot of fun now. Great hobby, adictive and can be expensive.

  158. i built my first radio in 1954.It had a two tube receiver . I bought the kit @ gyro electronics 325 Canal St. in New York. IN 1964 I got a reed set. In 1965 I got a F and M proportional radio.

  159. I’ve been in RC sence 1989 was into line control before that when I was still in the Air Force. I the 90’s I built a Steerman Navy and still have it.

  160. I have built balsa and tissue covered rubber band driven airplanes in the mid 40`s. Flew them off of the garage roof. Caught heck for that. Flew control line in France while in the AF in the early 60`s. First R/C was an Aeronca Champ with a Model Rectifier Corporation single stick radio. Still have all of my radios. This was in 1973. Flying ever since. A LOT of fun. Expensive? Weil, you only live once and never really grow up.

  161. I have built balsa and tissure covered airplanes powered by rubber bands in the mid 40`s. I flew them off of the garage roof. Caught heck for that. Flew control line while in France in the AF in the early 60`s. My first R/C was and Aeronca Champ with a Model Rectifier Corporation single stick rado. That was in 1973. I still have all of my radios. Been flying ever since. A LOT of fun. Expensive? Well, you only live once and never really grow up.

  162. Started with a Cox .049 on the end of a Coke box in NYC but never got it to fly. Moved to Omaha in 1968 & hooked up with the Omahawks in 1985 & have been learning to fly since then. Now the Coke box is handy to bring airplane parts home from tree assisted landings. You know to an oak tree a Sig Kadet tastes a lot like chicken.

  163. Been in and out of modeling since the early sixty’s . Kicked back in about 10 years ago on the R/C side . If there is a guy who goes by the name of John Kraigness , out there drop me a line ?

  164. Started in 53 with control line and in 56 with my father’s escapement system on a deBolt champion. a couple of years after leaving the army in 73 I tried to fly my father’s escapement champion and with a resulting crash I repaired the champion and built an RC system with servos and have been flying on an off ever sense.

  165. I have ben in the hobby since 1942. i attended the New York Journal AND American Model Airplane Contest with Joe Raspante who won the contest with his airplane called Snow White.

  166. U-control in 1948, ,first engine Rogers Ram ignition, Baby “V” Shark. Radio control. In 1962, O.S. Minitron sngl
    chnl on 29.995, with escapements for rudder and throttle.
    Live Wire Champ and Enya 15 (or) 19 ? Still have the original
    engines and escapements.
    1969, Kraft KP-5 system with assorted planes and engines.
    Still fly once and a while with Futaba gear.

    Bob C.

  167. Since 1952. Looking for Berkely Bootstrap Kit

  168. I trained on an Andrews H-Ray in 1975. I still own an h ray s ray a ray and 5 aeromaster Bi planes

  169. started flying controlline in 1963 ,then in 1964 i saw my first rc plane fly and was hooked ever since. in 1965 i worked for citizen-ship radio corp. indianapolis in untill 1971.I flew everything from single channel escapement ,ten channel reeds,3chan.analog,27 mhz digital ,5chan. digitals. while there i flew several contest for the co. I also worked a year at wold engines in cincinnati ohio. thorugh out the years i have built and flown just about every model imaginable. I would love to hear from other flyers who flew in the glory days of our hobby,thank you.

  170. I’ve been in the hobby since the mid 60s, starting with boats (ic, electric and sail) then starting RC flying in 1975 and havn’t stopped slnce. I have converted all of my ic planes to electric and still have a number of 70s models such as the Fliteglas Bird Dog, Jack Stafford Cosmic Wind Minnow, (build No 3 electric) Saturn Models ‘Cloud Dancer’ (UK 1975) Graupner Terry and PA18 Super Cub (new builds off original plans). I have recently completed a scratch built BD6 (modified for electric) from the Fred Reese plan I found in a LHS here in New Zealand. I have wanted to build this since I saw the Bob Aberle version in the Sept 75 Flying Models mag,(still have it and many 70s R/C Modeler mags) and it’s taken me 40yrs to do it!. I test flew it one month to the day before Jim Bede passed away, ( perhaps he was waiting for me to finish it !)
    I like to resurrect the old planes as they have more character and on the whole fly as well or better than many of the newer models.

  171. I’ve been designing, flying & occasionally crashing model planes since 1944, I had received for my 5th birthday a Comet Models Phantom Flash, I built & first flew it from my parent’s front porch to the street, I was ‘hooked’ & the hook became hopelessly set when I saw my first CL airplane contest in 1948′. Later transitioning into RC in 1955 I built my first radio from plans found in a model magazine (single tube radio).. the darn thing actually worked and I instantly became an model airplane addict. Flew competitive CL from 1954′-64′, was Captn’ of the ARMY model team in the Pacific 62’& 63′..Flew comp. CL til 1969 when RC again took main interest. Have competitively designed & flown just about every aspect of RC,– scale, pattern, F-1, gliders, jets, big birds and modern pattern–In 2002 a fellow showed up at our field and began flying CL, I was mesmerized…. Doing an immediate ‘about face’ I began designing & flying CL again, gradually immersing myself into PAMPA stunt. My wife is my ‘pit boss’ my children also fly RC & CL and are teaching their children (with help from Gran’pa) how to fly….

    I became an AMA AVP for District VIII in 92′..time has really flown and I’m still out there having fun–designing, flying & occasionally crashing them…I’m still designing & building them the ‘Old Fashion’ way, much to the amazement of my ARF addicted ‘club mates’

  172. I started out in 1953. In 1952 I saw Tony Grish (Tornado Plasticote prop fame) flying his DeBolt Live Wire Trainer. That really amazed me and I got one and flew it with a Citizen Ship 27 receiver, Bonner SN escapement, MAC II Ground base transmitter (5 watt). Powered it with a OK Cub .099. Later switched to an OK Cub .14. First flight with the .14 was a WOW! moment. Total of 65 years of R/c flying. Lots of C/L flying and a little free flight before getting into R/C. As a side note. I worked at Grish Brothers in Saint John Indiana for about a year after I graduated from high school in 1955.

  173. I don’t know when you ask the question, but I will add my input. I have been building models since 1948. My first introduction to RC was in 1962. I bought a Jr Falcon kit and flew it with a rubberband powered escapement and single-channel Kraft. In 1963 I moved up to a Sr, Falcon with a Controllaire 10 channel reed system. In 1974 moved up to the Kraft Proportional flying the Integra I designed. My good friend Joe Bridi said he was so impressed with the plane I should offer it to the modeling world. In 1974 Paul Imrisek and I started Allied Hobbies Manufacturing and introduced the Integra, Bede 6, and the Streaker 1/2 A racer. In 1976 I designed the Revenger, but before we could kit it we sold the company. I still fly the Revenger prototype which is now 45 years old and still flying great. Presently Scott Anderson of Performance Model Aviation is going to offer it as one of his product line model aircraft.

  174. I have been flying R/C for 51 years and still love it. Doing graceful, smooth aerobatics takes a long time to learn, depending on your natural ability. It is much more difficult than flying a full size aircraft. I have done both and began flaying lessons at age 15. Having the ability to fly an R/C plane makes getting your pilots license much easier.

    Selecting the correct airplane and power plant are extremely important. having a plane that is not flawed, i.e. a crooked wing or not balanced correctly is also very critical.

    Over the years I have seen two types of pilots, those that are crash prone and those that fly a plane until it is worn out. Get a good instructor to help as building a plane and flying it on your own is a recipe for a quick crash. An example. One day i was leveling our flying site after school and a fellow showed up with a new, well built plane. I had not seen him and introduced myself. I ask if he had flown R/C and he said he flew 727,s for a living and his plane should be a piece of cake. I knew different but was only 16. I did not want to be rude but did not want to see him crash a nice plane. The prop was spinning and I followed him out to the strip. Off he went and I told him what to do when things were not going well. After about 5-10 seconds and several near misses he shoved the transmiter in my hands and said “here kid you fly it”. I trimmed the plane and it flew very well. This was about 40 years ago and I never saw him again. I still wonder if he told his commercial pilot crew about this to this day.

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